A Work in Progress….

Exodus 25:14-15 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed.

Personally, I love a good, detailed plan. It is easy to follow, easy to carry out, simply follow the steps. Honestly, good plans are significantly less messy than dealing with people, who are unpredictable and complicated. 

Exodus 25:16-17 Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you. “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

But what I’ve just said assumes a dichotomy, an either/or. Either I am following the plan OR I am dealing with people. Life is often both. And we have to be able to deal with both carefully laid out details AND messy, changeable humans.  

Exodus 25:18-19 And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. 

Precious Savior, Your laws and rules and directions don’t mean that we can simply follow them to the exclusion of all the people that are part of this world. It’s easy to say, “I can’t deal with you because I have to follow these carefully laid out steps,” but that’s a copout and not at all what You intended for Your children. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 25:20 The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 25:10 “Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 

When reading today’s scripture, my mind goes immediately to Aruthur Miller’s The Crucible, to Reverend Parris’s desire to have gold candlesticks and not pewter because it would increase his reputation (not God’s). I think of all the money and resources that have gone into making ornate religious edifices instead of into helping God’s people. 

Exodus 25:11 Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. 

Clearly, I’m dealing with some cynicism, but my knee-jerk reaction prompts me to slow down and dig deeper. There’s more here than meets the eye. God has brought His people out of Egypt and is reminding them of who they are–His people. There is much symbolism to the gold used here. There are reasons if I’m willing to look for them.

Exodus 25:12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder to slow down, to go beyond my cynical knee-jerk reaction, to dig deeper, to look further, to read and study and consider. Thank You for meeting me here each morning, for drawing closer as I study Your word. Thank You. Amen.

Exodus 25:13 Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 25:1-2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. 

My knee-jerk reaction to today’s scripture is rebellious–”You can’t tell me what to do. Why is God being a bully and demanding offerings?” But I have to remind myself that the Israelites have been in Egypt for hundreds of years. They were fully immersed in the religious culture.

Exodus 25:3-5 These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; 

What God is doing here is showing them His way, their way, since they are His chosen people. Commentary says He is trying to develop their giving heart, as He strives to do with and for all of His children. 

Exodus 25:6-7 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

Precious Savior, Thank You for allowing me to go beyond my knee-jerk reactions–with Your word and with life itself. Help me, always, to slow down, to think things through, to read more widely, to sit with You and Your word, to draw closer to You–even when I am confused, even when I am afraid, even when I don’t understand. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 25:8-9 “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 24:15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 

What must this scene have been like to live through? Thick cloud cover, fog, can be eerie, depressing. You can’t see the sun, you can’t see far in front of yourself, landmarks are obscured. Fog is typically not welcoming nor inviting. 

Exodus 24:16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 

Yet out of this cloud cover, this fog, God calls to Moses. Was it a loud, booming call? A call Moses only felt in his bones? A gentle, welcoming whisper? The surroundings warn–Do not tarry here, but God says, “Come closer. I am with you.”

Exodus 24:17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for inviting us closer, for being with us, even when our surroundings, our situation, feels unwelcoming and inhospitable. Help us to feel Your presence always, even when we are afraid. Amen.

Exodus 24:18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 24:11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

What strikes me about today’s verses is the unavailability of God and the accessibility of Jesus. God, as is evidenced by this chapter particularly, holds Himself separate from humanity. That sense of “I can come to Him with anything at any time” is utterly lacking. 

Exodus 24:12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

I’ve never really thought of Jesus as being the “softer side” of God, but He sort of feels that way. I know that He is with me, that He will never leave me nor forsake me. I know that I can come to Him always, with all things. I know that I can be real, authentic, messily human with Jesus and I won’t be rejected. 

Exodus 24:13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reality of the Trinity–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three-in-one. I don’t fully understand what that means, but I know without a doubt that You are with me always, that I can come to You–fully, messily, ridiculously human, and You are right there to receive me. Help me, Jesus. Always. Help me. Amen.

Exodus 24:14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. 

I suppose I’m a bit cynical at this point, but as I read today’s verses, I can’t help thinking of all those years that I taught Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which is based on the Salem Witch Trials. In it, John Proctor and the others talk of being covenanted Christians, which is what today’s scripture is talking about–the covenant between God and man.

Exodus 24:7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”

The problem in The Crucible is that declaring yourself as a covenanted Christian was a shield used to try to protect yourself from accusations of witchcraft. The accusations are a glaring example of humans using God’s word for individual gain. (Those calling out others as witches, eventually, were after their property or reputations. It had nothing to do with whether or not you were a “good Christian.”)

Exodus 24:8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Precious Savior, Forgive me for my cynicism. Forgive humanity for our many attempts to twist the Bible for our gain. Help us to approach You, approach Your word, with pure hearts and pure intentions–to draw closer to You. Always. Help us, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 24:9-10 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 24:1-2 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

The herd mentality of verse 3’s “they responded with one voice” catches my attention this morning. Commentary says that “a nation that had been terrified by God’s awesome presence at Sinai was in no state of mind to do anything but agree with God.” Terror due to a traumatic experience and group agreement does not bode well for individual hearts.

Exodus 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 

God doesn’t want automatons. He knows our hearts. He wants us to give our hearts freely, authentically to Him.  He doesn’t want lip service. And He can absolutely see through what we say and know the truth of our hearts. Always.

Exodus 24:4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Precious Savior, Thank You that You don’t just want to hear the right words. You are more concerned about the state of our hearts, that we see You, that we choose to follow You, authentically and completely. Help me not to ever pay You lip service but to be authentically Yours, now and forever. Amen.

Exodus 24:5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 23:29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 

I love this idea of God working “little by little.” Don’t get me wrong–I’m as impatient as the next person, but the idea of God chipping away for me so that I’m not overwhelmed, so that unintended consequences don’t swamp me and take me down before I find my feet, I just really love that imagery.

Exodus 23:30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

And while the pace of “little by little” often frustrates me, I appreciate the sustainability of that pace. Big changes are hard to maintain. Changes made little by little become habit in the doing and are therefore easier to maintain. “Little by little” really is the way to go. 

Exodus 23:31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the promise to work in my life “little by little” so that I am not overwhelmed by unintended consequences. Forgive me when I grow weary or impatient with Your pace. Help me to remember that You are growing me and stretching me so that I am ready when Your timing is right. Amen.

Exodus 23:32-33 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 23:24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 

Today has me wishing for a 3D Bible and thinking about blind men and elephants. The 3D Bible is because I am such a visual learner, though I utterly lack the ability to visualize. Commentary  references two different passages in Joshua in relation to the hornets, but I can’t help but think of the Bible as a linear experience with each book a separate entity. 

Exodus 23:25-26 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

The blind men and the elephant is an ancient Indian parable I used to share with my students to talk about the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know and we can be certain about what we think we know and still be utterly wrong. My inability to see how the different books of the Bible overlap lets me know I’ve got some things wrong because of my failure to see differently. 

Exodus 23:27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the gift of uncertainty with which I approach Your word. I think that allows me to continue to seek and study and be curious because I know I don’t have all the answers. Help me to always approach Your word with curiosity, thirsting to draw closer to You. Amen.

Exodus 23:28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

Have a blessed day. 

Exodus 23:20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 

Many commentaries interpret Jesus as the angel referred to in verses 20 and 21. Even Paul, in the New Testament, will lay that claim. I guess I wonder, if the reference is truly to Jesus, why the Old Testament is so opaque about it. Why not just state clearly that the reference is to Jesus?

Exodus 23:21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 

I want to look at verse 22 more closely because I feel like as a culture, we’ve taken that verse way too much to heart. We are bad about asserting that God hates what we hate, who we hate, who hates us. I’m not convinced God works that way, even though we take every opportunity to remake Him in our own image. 

Exodus 23:22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 

Precious Savior, Forgive us when we co-opt Your power and might and try to aim it at our enemies and our causes. Help us want to love like You love, to shine Your light for all. Help us not to exclude and divide. Help us, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 23:23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

Have a blessed day.